Strike a pose

By Jo McCulty Senior Kristen Garlitz models on Oct. 23 for Jack Rich, Tommy Hilfiger vice president for special events, at the Ohio Union. The company sought OSU models for a fashion show at Polaris.

Collaboration contributes to off-campus safety

Communication, collaboration and community have surfaced as the three keys to promoting and securing a safe atmosphere in the neighborhoods surrounding Ohio State's Columbus campus.

Students, faculty and administrators told the Board of Trustees Nov. 2 that the efforts to ensure that students are safe off campus have resulted in a largely peaceful autumn quarter -- and have fostered cordial relationships among populations living in the area.

For example: Faculty and staff who live in the University District sometimes host cookouts and other gatherings to which their student neighbors are invited. And student party hosts occasionally invite a patrolling police officer to sit awhile and have a chat with responsibly celebrating students.

"We are focused on building relationships rather than taking a confrontational approach, and it seems to be working quite well," said Eric Busch, assistant vice president for student success services in the Division of Student Affairs.

New initiatives to promote safety include a Friday and Saturday evening neighborhood patrol by police on bicycles, a practice that has been well-received -- even when officers have suggestions concerning behavior, such as turning down music or advising party hosts to check identification.

A University Area Crime Stoppers program is being launched, combined with the existing Community Crime Patrol that has a strong presence in the University District. The city and University also remain committed to strict enforcement of alcohol and other applicable laws and of policies related to off-campus behavior that are covered by the Student Code of Conduct.

The culture change, best represented by the relationships developing throughout the district, also has a statistical angle: The number of students who drink heavily has decreased by 15 percent over the past three years. And those who misbehave face the ire of their peers. A Student Affairs assessment conducted last May indicated that 90.5 percent of Ohio State undergraduates felt off-campus riots and disturbances last spring were an embarrassment.

Communication, in the form of a heavy flow of information carrying consistent themes, has been key -- in a variety of formats for a number of audiences. It began before school started, with messages to students and parents delivered during summer orientation about alcohol, drugs and disturbances -- and their consequences. A Party Smart campaign is in full swing, advising students how to avoid trouble when hosting and attending parties off campus (www.osu.edu/partysmart). Recommendations go beyond alcohol issues, and come from a University showing its concern for its students.

"We tell them we care about them and want them to enjoy all aspects of their lives as students at Ohio State," Busch said. "And then we say, 'You are adults who have responsibilities. Here are laws and policies that apply to you, and the consequences of violating them.'

"There are other behaviors that really can threaten the safety of students attending parties. Some people stand on porch roofs or overload balconies, and there has been a history of setting things on fire, though that is decreasing, as well," Busch said. "We are looking at all aspects of their personal safety."

Rebecca Price, an off-campus representative in Undergraduate Student Government, and Luke Whitworth, an Evans Scholar active in community programs, said students are sharing in the responsibility of conveying the messages to their peers. Students participate in a block watch program to help protect each other, and USG is going door-to-door in the University District to convey information and survey student residents about actions needed in the area.

Additionally, information about late-night alcohol-free events is reaching its intended audience: More than 10,000 students to date have attended such events this quarter.

Kay Bea Jones, associate professor of architecture and a University District resident, spoke to the faculty involvement in developing a sense of community in the campus neighborhoods. She sits with students, police, other residents, property owners, OSU administrators, city services representatives and clergy on an off-campus strategies committee that developed the neighborhood police patrol and Party Smart initiatives.

Development of community extends to efforts to improve the appearance of the University District through gardening projects, exploration of how to reduce residential trash problems and efforts to promote systematic code enforcement of properties.

As part of the presentation, Vice President for Student Affairs Bill Hall introduced the board to Barbara Rich, who, as the new assistant vice president for community development in Student Affairs, will assume leadership of the initiatives discussed.

Committee explores ways to better market, support distance education

The University's Distance Education Committee shared its vision for better marketing of distance education courses and enhanced support of faculty presenting those courses in the future with the University Board of Trustees Nov. 2.

"We are reorganizing ourselves to be the most helpful to academic units as they get involved in more distance education in the future," said committee chair Bobby Moser.

Moser, vice president for University outreach and dean of the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences, said the committee has been exploring an entrepreneurial type of operation that would provide the expertise in market analysis, business plan development, cost/benefit analysis and marketing to faculty or units developing distance education courses and other types of outreach activities.

The proposed entrepreneurial support system would expand the scope of distance education at Ohio State. Distance education courses could be offered across the state, the nation and the world, Moser said. It also would encourage faculty and departments to get more involved in the areas of distance education.

Entrepreneurial support would complement other areas of support already in place in the University's distance education model. Services to enroll students are currently provided through the University, while instructional design services are also currently available, providing consultation services for faculty, technical assistance and infrastructure support.

In surveying the University, Moser said the committee found that significant assets and services currently exist that support distance education, although in many different departments and units. The Office of Continuing Education supplies student services, enrollment services, needs assessment and recruitment of services. Technology Enhanced Learning and Research can be called on for instructional design and technical support. Regional campuses, OSU Extension and the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences offer needs assessment, recruitment of students and many teaching locations around the state. University Relations provides expertise in marketing development and implementation.

Moser said the structure for the proposed entrepreneurial support is still being weighed.

"Do we create an entirely new unit, do we restructure, or do we outsource?" Moser said.

Information technology research receives $2.8 million

Four very different research projects at the University have taken on the same goal: helping people find the benefits of information technology.

With $2.8 million in new grants from the National Science Foundation's Information Technology Research (ITR) program, the projects will encompass six diverse disciplines from across the campus.

The projects will:

• help scientists develop sophisticated computer models to visualize complex chemical structures;

• study the generation of ocean waves by wind;

• increase production in oil fields; and

• investigate whether using the Internet can make life easier for working parents.

"These grants in interdisciplinary areas will allow Ohio State research to make very important contributions in both basic and applied science and engineering," said Brad Moore, vice president for research. "The awards underscore the quality of the work that we are doing and the promise for building major multidisciplinary programs in coming years.

"The leadership that faculty members have taken in applying for and winning these grants is an essential part of reaching our goal to become one of the world's leading teaching and research universities," he added.

The National Science Foundation awarded the four approximate grants as follows:

• $1.9 million to Ponnuswamy Sadayappan, professor of computer and information science. Sadayappan's colleagues include Russell Pitzer, professor of chemistry, and Gerald Baumgartner, assistant professor of computer and information science. The three will collaborate with researchers from Princeton University, Syracuse University, Louisiana State University, Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNL). Over the five-year project, the researchers will develop a software tool that can automatically create high-performance computer programs capable of studying the structure of atoms and molecules. Experts typically spend weeks writing such programs from scratch; with this new software tool, someone could create the same program in only a few hours. The tool can also improve existing software, and Sadayappan and his colleagues will use it to enhance a program called NWChem, which was originally developed at PNL. With new computer codes, the program will be able to model atoms and molecules in chemical structures more complex than any studied before.

• $500,000 to Gregory Baker, Ohio Eminent Scholar and professor of mathematics. Baker will collaborate with Joel Johnson, associate professor of electrical engineering. This five-year project builds on Johnson's current work for NASA, in which he is designing an instrument to study the movement of waves on the Earth's oceans. He and Baker will develop computing techniques to study how wind generates such waves. Ultimately, the results could help scientists better understand how the ocean and the atmosphere interact.

• $200,000 to Joel Saltz, professor and chair of bioinformatics. For his three-year project, Saltz will collaborate with researchers from the University of Texas at Austin, the University of Maryland, College Park, and Rutgers University. The researchers will develop computing tools to interactively explore, process and analyze very large sets of data. The work's immediate application is to analyze seismic data and simulations of underground oil and gas reservoirs to increase production from these sites. Since the work deals with modeling the Earth's subsurface, the project could also apply to other areas, including environmental remediation and the storage of hazardous wastes.

• $200,000 to Mei-Po Kwan, associate professor of geography. In her two-year project, Kwan will conduct a survey in Columbus to learn how Internet use affects the location and timing of women's daily activities. She is also trying to find out whether men's use of the Internet at home will reduce the woman's share of homemaking duties, which may in turn affect the woman's occupation and employment status. The results of the study could help shape national policies regarding technology and transportation.

NSF awarded a total of $156 million in ITR grants in 2001 to spur fundamental research and innovative uses of information technology in science and engineering. The foundation culled 309 winners nationwide from a pool of more than 2,000 proposals.

The 2002 ITR competition is just beginning. The actual appropriation has yet to be determined by Congress, but NSF has asked for $217 million in its ITR budget for next year.

'His dream is our mission'

James founder dies at age 89

Arthur G. James       Courtesy of The James

The Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Richard J. Solove Research Institute recently announced the death of its founder, Arthur G. James. After a long battle with Parkinson's Disease, James passed away on Oct. 22. He was 89.

James'vision was to create a specialized cancer hospital in central Ohio. A native of Ohio, James attended medical school at Ohio State, spent four years as a surgeon overseas during World War II, and then completed his medical training at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City (then known as Memorial Hospital).

The influence of Memorial Sloan Kettering and its focus on cancer treatment inspired James to bring the same level of specialized care to Ohio. After returning to Columbus in 1947 to join University Hospitals, James spent the next 35 years convincing community leaders, the state of Ohio, and Ohio State of the need to have a specialty cancer hospital.

After years of fund-raising and campaigning, ground was broken in 1984 to build what would be named the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital and Research Institute. Six years later, James saw his vision become reality when The James treated its first cancer patients.

James was awarded many honors and accolades throughout his career. In 1972, he was named the national president of the American Cancer Society. In 1973, he was cited as one of the Top 10 Men in Columbus by the former Columbus Citizen Journal. In 1987, he was one of 10 recipients of the national Horatio Alger Award, honoring distinguished Americans. The American Cancer Society presented James with its Medal of Honor for Clinical Research in 1990, and in 1991 he received The Ohio State University Alumni Medalist Award. Most recently, he was named Columbus'Outstanding Citizen during Columbus Day celebrations in October 1997.

"The passion that Dr. James showed throughout his lifetime is rare. He was dedicated both to his patients and to the idea that cancer patients need separate, specialized care," said David E. Schuller, director of The James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute. "Because of Dr. James'commitment, many cancer patients from Ohio and beyond have benefited from having access to the latest treatments and the highest quality care available. I am truly honored to have known Dr. James and to have worked with such a gifted and caring man."

"Without Dr. James, this hospital simply would not exist. His memory and dedication will live on through this hospital and all that we achieve," said Dennis Smith, director of administration at The James. "We will continue to advance Dr. James'vision of a world-class cancer hospital and research facility. His dream is our mission."

The James Cancer Hospital is the patient care component of Ohio State's Comprehensive Cancer Center. It is one of only 41 Comprehensive Cancer Centers so designated by the National Cancer Institute. The James is also a founding member of the National Comprehensive Cancer Network -- an association of cancer centers dedicated to developing and implementing standardized care for cancer patients.

"We are proud this hospital bears the name of such an outstanding individual," said Zuheir Sofia, chair of the Board of Trustees for The James. "Dr. James witnessed -- and initiated -- tremendous progress in cancer treatment during his lifetime. Through continued efforts in education and research, we will continue his legacy to win the fight against cancer."

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